Chuck Sweeny: Jim Gitz ready for 2nd go-round as Freeport mayor

When the once and future mayor of Freeport looks around the city he’ll soon be in charge of again, he concludes that he’s got a lot of work to do.

Chuck Sweeny

When the once and future mayor of Freeport looks around the city he’ll soon be in charge of again, he concludes that he’s got a lot of work to do.

“We have fewer jobs, we have lost tax base, our neighborhoods are in worse trouble, and we have outstanding issues like what to do with the Rawleigh Building, and what do with the deficit,” said Jim Gitz, who defeated Mayor George Gaulrapp in the Feb. 26 primary election and beat Jon Staben and Kathy Knodle in the April 9 vote.

Gitz will be sworn in May 20 to the job he had from 1997 to 2005.

“Things are harder and we have less to work with. I had not known about the deficit,” which is projected to be $570,000. “It was announced after the primary. It doesn’t surprise me, we’ve always had tight budgets, but it poses challenges for how to take an already lean budget, prioritize growth and preserve vital services without raising taxes,” he said in an interview.

“My transition team will work on budgeting and finance.” He may have to make “selective cuts” but hopes to avoid “great injury.”

I asked Gitz, whom I’ve known since his days as a state senator from 1979 to 1983, his top three priorities. He preferred to answer with three “high” priorities:

“The economy, public safety and neighborhoods. Everything else hangs off the tree from those three branches.”

Bringing back jobs will take diligent efforts from many people in a city known for making things (I still have my Structo toy truck) and providing services like insurance.

“Not only did we have big manufacturers, we were headquarters to Newell, we had Economy Insurance, we had a lot of companies headquartered here that were dedicated to the community. Newell moved to Atlanta, Honeywell moved jobs to Mexico. Freeport suffered from globalization.”

Not that Freeport is alone. Chicago, Rockford, the Quad Cities and Peoria have been hurt by the same trend. But how do you tackle it? That question keeps mayors up at night.

“We have to save our citizens’ jobs, improve the quality of life and educate our kids,” and encourage locally based manufacturers to produce in-demand goods and services.. “Some of those companies already exist.

“We also have some options to grow in the agriculture sector. We have to sharpen our saw and get to work.”

Gitz is a believer in regional marketing to increase the possibility of companies coming to northern Illinois — and to Freeport in particular.

“If Freeport is smart and works with other communities while looking at opportunities of our own, we’ll all benefit,” he said.

“I’m encouraged that manufacturing jobs are coming back to America,” a trend called reshoring, in which US firms are bringing work back from Asia because wages and transportation costs there are rising.

As Gitz goes around Freeport, what’s he hearing from soon-to-be constituents?

“They welcome the change, they hope things will be different and better. My hope is that we can deliver.”

One immediate problem facing the new mayor will be where to put City Hall. He has suggested an 11-step process to decide what the city needs before deciding where it needs to do it.

“What’s the actual cost of true alternatives? If you’re going to move to Carnegie library, what do you do with the old City Hall? If you’re going to demolish it, your cost goes up $500,000.

“Let’s go about this systematically, pay attention to the real cost and make a decision based on all factors. I think we’ll find that the real cost of renovating old City Hall is much lower than the $4 million they’re throwing around. If the old building is safe, with no problems, we should be careful of not losing the building.

“I’m not in favor of spending $4 million to $6 million to build a new one. I’m not in favor of renting. The county and city are renting private space while we have unused public buildings. Those are the kinds of decisions that got us in to trouble.”

Gitz wants city government to be customer-focused, which he says isn’t always the case.

“Not all people in City Hall are goldbrickers, but some don’t send the right tone for being transparent and customer-friendly. We must make the extra effort to be polite to people, fix their problem, treat them respectfully, effectively and cheerfully.”

Gitz also wants to change another thing: City Hall’s hours.

“The hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with an hour off for lunch. Now I’m not a whizbang, but that’s seven hours, while the pay is for eight hours.”

Gitz wants City Hall employees to work eight hours. “It should be fair for all people who work for the city. The mayor’s office will be open for eight hours, regardless.”